Merger talk barely mentioned at SUNO graduation

Ronald Mason, president of the Southern University system, made it a point to mention during his speech at the Southern University at New Orleans graduation ceremony Saturday that the school's valedictorian wouldn't be counted in its graduation rate.

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Sandrica Fisher, who received a bachelor of science degree in early childhood education, took a break from college to serve in the military and have children, Mason said. She had the highest grade point average of all the SUNO graduating seniors.

Although the controversial bills in the Legislature to merge SUNO and the University of New Orleans were mentioned only briefly by Mason and SUNO Chancellor Victor Ukpolo, Mason's declaration that "we don't want to hear anything more about the graduation rate" got a roar of applause.

SUNO has received heavy criticism in some quarters because its six-year graduation rate is 8 percent, one of the lowest rates in the country.

But Mason and Ukpolo pointed out that only 14 of the 442 graduating members of the Class of 2011 would count toward the school's graduation rate.

That is because only students who finish their degree in six years are counted, and transfer students also are not counted. Because Fisher, for example, did not graduate within six years of beginning classes at the school, she won't be counted, the school officials said.

"You all exemplify the mission of this university to provide access and success. ... According to our graduation rate, you all qualify," Ukpolo said.

But the possible merger was a theme only toward the end of the graduation ceremony at the UNO Lakefront Arena. The O. Perry Walker High School Choir sang musical selections; U.S. Secretary of Housing and Urban Development Shaun Donovan gave the commencement address; and all the graduates received their degrees before the merger was even mentioned.

Donovan also did not mention the SUNO-UNO issue, although he touched on topics such as the city's devastation and rebuilding after Hurricane Katrina, the progress New Orleanians have made since 2005 in moving from temporary to permanent housing, his office's efforts to force St. Bernard Parish to allow mixed-income apartment complexes, and his beliefs about institutional racism in America.

His statement that "housing discrimination is simply wrong, and we're working to end it once and for all" drew the loudest applause of his speech.

Students gave standing ovations when posthumous degrees were presented to former SUNO students Lerone Lawson and Gwendolyn Thomas, who both died before receiving their degrees.

After the ceremony, graduates Anna Goldsmith, 66, and Monique Goldsmith, 26, stood outside the arena taking photos with their family. The mother and daughter had received master's degrees in criminal justice together.

Merging SUNO with UNO could be hard for future students because the new university would probably lose the close-knit atmosphere of the smaller, predominantly black SUNO, Anna Goldsmith said.

"It saddens me because SUNO really takes you under their wing," she said. "If you want an education, they're there for you every step of the way."

Jacqueline Marin, 26, agreed. Another graduate who would not be factored into SUNO's graduation rate, Marin transferred from Xavier University and received a bachelor's degree in social work.

"I don't think (the merger) should happen," she said. "I think each school stands for something different."